For weeks, fans of the duo Joey + Roryhave dutifully followed Rory Feek‘s online journal, This Life I Live, as he documents his wife’s battle with terminal cancer. The singer has continually provided devoted fans with updates, messages and truth, even as things slid for the worst this past week when Joey returned home to enter hospice care, spending time with their young daughter, Indiana.

This morning, Rory shared his reason for documenting Joey’s struggle in a heartfelt blog post that not only pays homage to her, but also reflected on the life of one his “very best friends – Tim Johnson,” who Rory “had been buddies with since [he] first showed up on Music Row in Nashville with a guitar case full of dreams.” Rory went on to speak to Tim’s battle with cancer that spread over time from his colon to his liver, and Rory’s own surprise at how young Tim was for something like this to happen.

The recognition that Rory shared of the “truth [that] came pouring out of Tim” as he kept writing songs through his battle led to Rory inviting Tim on TheJoey + Rory Show, also admitting that he wanted Tim to be “remembered. And something told [Rory] that [Tim’s] song might help someone in their moment of need.”

As Rory writes in his post, he did not realize that soon, he and Joey would be the someones he imagined when he invited Tim to perform. This leads to the truth of his transparent honesty surrounding his wife’s battle:

“Like my friend Tim, I want my wife to be remembered.”

“I want her sweet voice and her love to live on.”

He concluded his post by acknowledging the inspiration Tim Johnson gave to him, and the inspiration he knows that Joey will be the world, no matter what kind of battle each individual is fighting, stating that all he wants is for “her song to live on.”